SPRATLY ISLANDS NEWSEvery Filipino should be aware of the real score at the Scarborough Shoal, as the situation is getting very serious. In a unilateral act of aggression, China recently announced that the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands and Maclesfeild Bank would now be administered by its own political entity called Sansha City. The newly formed administrative body calls for the construction of Chinese military barracks in our islands, headed by no less than a Senior Colonel from the Chinese Military. They have permanently deployed military ships on the shoal and are mounting regular combat-ready patrols of its environs, indicating that they are militarizing the area. In another act of provocation, the Chinese roped off the entrance leading to the Scarborough lagoon, preventing Philippine vessels from entering. Beijing authorized its coastguards to accost foreign vessels (Philippine vessels included) and to go as far as to physically board our ships, inspect its contents, confiscate it, detain the crew and immobilize the ship, if need be. This authority takes effect in 2013. The Chinese foreign ministry said it has the right to enforce its own coastal boarder defense. China is already acting as if they own our shoal. The Claims

In the United Nation's convention of the Laws of the Seas held in 1994, 120 nations signed an accord agreeing that waters within 200 nautical miles from the shores of a particular nation forms part of the said nation's domain. The Philippines is a signatory to this accord, as with China. The Scarborough Shoal is a mere 120 nautical miles away from Zambales, while it is more than 500 nautical miles away from China. International Maritime Laws recognize the disputed area to be part of Philippine territory. China's claim is based on an ancient map drawn out in the year 120 A.D. In this map, practically the entire body of water that straddles ASEAN is said to form part of China's territory. This is the area claimed by China today. Hence, it has put itself in direct territorial conflict not only with the Philippines, but also with Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Should the arcane map be given any credence, then Italy can very well claim practically the entire European continent. It's that preposterous! Last year, China provoked all five ASEAN claimants by issuing passports with a graphically printed territorial line that encroached on our respective seas. The Philippines responded quickly by instructing our Bureau of Immigration not to stamp Chinese passports bearing China's excessive claims. The Scarborough Shoal is said to be a prime piece of maritime property for its strategic location as a key shipping lane that traverses Asia. It is also known to be fertile fishing grounds and home to a variety of wild and endangered marine life. But its real allure is the oil and natural gas it contains. Some speculate that beneath its waters are oil reserves amounting to between 20 billion to as much as 213 billion barrels, making it only second to Saudi Arabia. No surprise, China is lusting for the shoal. The April Stand-Off And The Diplomatic Route

Last April, the Philippine Navy caught eight Chinese fishing vessels poaching live sharks, endangered sea turtles, corals and giant clams in the Scarborough Shoal. The Philippines deployed the BRP Gregorio del Pilar to accost the poachers as they were breaking our laws. As it did, two Chinese ships positioned themselves on the path of the Philippine vessel, preventing it from taking action on the poachers. Later on, more Chinese ships followed. Neither side was willing to back down, hence the stand-off. Two months later, both parties agreed to withdraw their respective ships from the area, an agreement China broke after just a few months. The Philippines has been exhausting all diplomatic avenues to resolve the situation. We filed a diplomatic protest over the intrusion of Chinese fishing vessels last April, we issued a note verbale to the Chinese...

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...The South China Sea Islands Disputes
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The South China Sea Island Disputes
Introduction
China’s rise to the status of a global economic power has been viewed with both skepticism and hope by her neighbors. Skepticism by countries wary of China’s history of aggression as far as territorial disputes are concerned, and hope by countries wishing to benefit from trade partnerships with China. However, it is China’s activities in both the south and East China seas that have got her neighbors worrying. In the 1970s and 80s, China was concerned with marking her terrestrial borders with countries that surround her. It was in the process of defining her borders that China’s military power was felt. There were border skirmishes between China and several of her neighbors including India and Russia.
Having secured her terrestrial borders, China’s attention shifted to her maritime territory and its security. She embarked on the acquisition of islands within the East and South China Sea. It is this expansion mission into the sea that has seen many disputes arise between China and her neighbors who lay claim to the same islands. This expansion strategy has seen disputes erupt between China and her neighbors who lay claim to islands she has acquired. As early as April 2012, the Philippine and Chinese militaries nearly faced off over an...

...Dispute: Philippine Claims Over the
Spratly Group of Islands or “Kalayaan Group of Islands
ALFONSO G. PARUNGAO IV
“We owned the West Philippines Sea”. – Philippines.
Even China is a signatory in these and they even agree with this together with the United Nations.
South China Sea or West Philippine Sea as the Filipinos named it is composed of several contested archipelagos or groups of islands. One of the groups ofislands currently disputed is the Spratly Group of Islands or Kalayaan Group of Islands as, again Philippine has names it. There are numerous countries claiming and owning the islands making it as one of the most controversial territorial and boundary disputes in the world. Six Asian-countries are part of the dispute including the Philippines, who claims only parts of the group of islands along with, Brunei and Malaysia while the entire SpratlyIslands is being claimed by China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC), and Vietnam.
Spratly/Kalayaan Group of Islands is a group of more or less 800 reefs, islets, atolls, cays and islands. It contains less than four square kilometers of land area spread over more than 64,976 square kilometers of sea. Palawan is about 220 miles east and 450 nautical miles of Manila.
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...The SpratlyIslands are a disputed group of more than 750 reefs, islets, atolls, cays, and islands in the South China Sea.[5] The archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia (Sabah), and southern Vietnam. They contain less than 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles) of land area spread over more than 425,000 square kilometers (164,100 square miles) of sea. The Spratlys are one of 3 archipelagos of the South China Sea which comprise more than 30,000 islands and reefs and which complicate governance and economics in that region of Southeast Asia. Such small and remote islands have little economic value in themselves but are important in establishing international boundaries. No native islanders inhabit the islands which offer rich fishing grounds and may contain significant oil and natural gas reserves.
About 45 islands are occupied by relatively small numbers of military forces from the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (ROC), Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Brunei has also claimed an exclusive economic zone in the southeastern part of the Spratlys encompassing just one area of small islands on Louisa Reef. This has led to escalating tensions between numerous countries over the disputed status of the islands.The first possible human interaction with the SpratlyIslands dates back...

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http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2013/12/05/1264303/war-and-peace-china-seas
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/2014/03/30/is-the-philippines-ready-for-chinas-retaliation/
Possible future if
Scarborough Shoal issue: Should the Philippines go to war against China?
If china attacks the philippines what will happen?
Why shouldn't the philippines give up its claims for scarborough shoal?
Who will gain control of the spratleys in the end?The Philippines or China?
Who ownsspratlyislands? Philippines or China?
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China has painted the picture of President...

...PHILIPPINE CLAIM TO THE SPRATLYISLANDS GROUP*
Introduction
The Philippines is a mid-ocean archipelago consisting of more than 7,100 islands some of which remain unnamed. The islands portion of the archipelago lies along some 1,150 miles between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. It is separated from Taiwan by the Bashi Channel, from Indonesia by the Celebes Sea,. from North Borneo (Sabah) by narrow passages, channels and straits, from the Asian mainland by the South China Sea and from the Trust Territory of the Pacific Island by the Philippine Sea which is an arm of the Pacific Ocean.
As such mid-ocean archipelago, some of its islands lie at a distance of more than twelve nautical miles from each other. For economic, fiscal, political, but more especially security reasons, the Philippines has been sensitive to the question of what constitutes its island waters and maritime boundaries, and has consistently been assertive of claims relative to them. It .therefore advances the notion of itself as an island-studded water with both land and water forming a composite and integral unity making up territory.4 The legal foundations of such claims are recognition by treaty, devolution of treaty rights, and historic title. Accordingly, since its first opportunity to officially define its national territory, the Philippines has consistently claimed boundaries...

...﻿What has more than 750 reefs and islands, has been claimed by 5 different countries, and has been the center of political disputes since the 1900s? Answer: the SpratlyIslands, located off the coast of the Philippines and Malaysia. This region has been claimed by both of these nations as well as China, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan. Despite the political dilemma synonymous with them, the general American public is mostly unaware that theseislands exist.
What can the SpratlyIslands have to offer? Combined, they barely have 4 square kilometers of land spread out in over 450,000 square kilometers of sea. This makes the construction of infrastructure almost impossible, making the islands uninhabitable. Yet countries around the Pacific have been constantly claiming islands, disputing their opponents' claims, and using military intimidation for the past 20 years. This is due to the islands' rich marine ecosystem, gas and oil deposits, and ideal location for military strategies. Fortunately, there has been no drastic large-scale military clash between these five countries as of yet. However, there have been smaller incidents where two countries have clashed and used military force to assert their possession over specific islands. For example, the 1988 altercation at Johnson Reef between the Chinese Navy and Vietnamese Navy (Torode 2013)...

...Claim and Reclaiming: Relations at Stake
From Lapu-Lapu to Jose Rizal, Philippine history is full with people who fought against overwhelming odds and won. Of course, we were colonized by the Spaniards and Americans, occupied by the Japanese and subjugated by a home-grown dictator. But the point is the Filipino spirit is indomitable and despite of the awesome might of our oppressors, we still prevailed in the end. This kind of spirit is again in quest with the issues of claiming for expanded territories. I want to plug in the current issues of claiming Sabah and Spartly Islands as part of the Philippine territory despite of the number of contenders suing for it.
First, let’s take a look on Sabah. Historically, Sabah is owned by the Sultan of Brunei but then it was given to the Sultan of Sulu as a gift. But during the colonial regime of the British in Malaysia, they want to include Sabah on their territory for prior reasons. So, the imperialists ask the Sultan of Sulu for a lease to acquire Sabah. The lease was granted but after the British regime, Malaysia gains independence and declare Sabah is part of their territory but until now they are still paying for the rent in Sabah. Now, the Sultanate of Sulu is claiming for the return of Sabah to their ownership. Then, the misconception rises on both contenders in this issue. Malaysian government view the agreement as a sale or mortgage, while the Sultanate of Sulu, it is only a lease. As I take my view points...

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Sabah
Spratly’s Island
Calayan Group of Islands
I. Historical Background
Under a treaty entered into with the sultans of Sulu and Maguindanao in 1640, the Spaniards recognized the independence of the two sultanates. Thus, the Sulu sultan later became the sovereign ruler of Sabah.
The SpratlyIslands consist of more than 100 small islands or reefs. They are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and potentially by gas and oil deposits. They are claimed in their entirety by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, while portions are claimed by Malaysia and the Philippines. About 45 islands are occupied by relatively small numbers of military forces from China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Since 1985 Brunei has claimed a continental shelf that overlaps a southern reef but has not made any formal claim to the reef. Brunei claims an exclusive economic zone over this area.
Administratively, the Calayan island was part of the Batanes group of islands. From 1902, Calayan was brought under Cagayan Province. However, this change of administrative control resulted in isolation of the islanders as transport communications were lacking. In 1916, Fray Andres Sanchez and Fray Geronimo Morer, Dominican Fathers, visited this island and gave the island its name.
What
This treaty constitutes the main basis of the territorial dispute...